Financial Assessment Information for UK undergraduate students who have their tuition fees funded by NHS England (or equivalent funding body for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland).

Leeds Financial Support was renamed the Leeds Bursary from 1st August 2021. The eligibility criteria remains unchanged.

Please note: the information on this page does not apply to non-UK EU students. This webpage contains information of relevance only to students on undergraduate Medicine & Dentistry courses who are about to enter an NHS-funded year for the first time. 

Your entitlement to a Leeds Bursary is based upon the level of your household income, as assessed by your student finance Award Body. Depending upon your residency, your student finance Award Body may be Student Finance England (SFE), Student Finance Wales (SFW), Student Finance Northern Ireland (SFNI) or the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). 

You need to have a household income assessment undertaken and verified by your Award Body in order to be considered for a Leeds Bursary award. Ordinarily, your Award Body would not, as a matter of course, undertake a financial assessment if you are studying in an NHS funded year. This is because the amount of student finance you are able to receive from your Award Body in NHS funded years is not dependent upon your household income.

For this reason, the University will use the household income assessment provided to the University by your Award Body for the previous academic year (if a household income assessment exists). This means that if you progress from a non-NHS funded year into an NHS funded year, you will still be able to receive a Leeds Bursary in the current academic year, provided that you qualified for a Leeds Bursary in the previous academic year, and you continue to meet the rest of the Leeds Bursary eligibility criteria. Please note that you will still need to have a student finance application in place for the new academic year (not just an NHS grant application).

If you were not financially assessed in the previous academic year (and did not receive a Leeds Bursary award as a consequence), but would still like to be financially assessed in the current academic year, or if your household income has fallen compared with the previous academic year, you can still request that your Award Body conduct a household income assessment by following the steps below. If a household income assessment exists for both the previous and the current academic year, the University will use the lower of the two values to determine your Leeds Bursary entitlement. This only applies to students on undergraduate Medicine & Dentistry courses who are about to enter an NHS-funded year for the first time. If either you received the maximum Leeds Bursary award in the previous academic year, or your household income has not fallen, there would be no benefit to you from following the steps below. 

Example 1:

Sue started studying at the University in 2019/20, entering year 1 of Medicine. The maximum possible Leeds Bursary award for 2019/20 starters is £2,000. Sue has just finished year 4 of Medicine in 2022/23, which was not an NHS-funded year, and is progressing into year 5 of Medicine in 2023/24, which is an NHS-funded year. Sue received a Leeds Bursary award of £2,000 in 2022/23, based upon the household income assessment which was received from her Award Body. Sue continues to be registered in year 5 of the course in 2023/24 and continues to meet the rest of the Leeds Bursary eligibility criteria. The University will use the household income assessment received from Sue's Award Body in 2022/23 to determine her 2023/24 entitlement. As Sue received the maximum Leeds Bursary in 2022/23 she will receive the maximum Leeds Bursary again in 2023/24 and Sue would not gain anything by contacting her Award Body to specifically request that a 2023/24 household income assessment is undertaken. 

Example 2:

Simon started studying at the University in 2019/20, entering year 1 of Medicine. The maximum possible Leeds Bursary award for 2019/20 starters is £2,000. Simon has just finished year 4 of Medicine in 2022/23, which was not an NHS-funded year, and is progressing into year 5 of Medicine in 2023/24, which is an NHS-funded year. Simon received a Leeds Bursary award of £1,000 in 2022/23, based upon the household income assessment which was received from his Award Body. Simon continues to be registered in year 5 of the course in 2023/24 and continues to meet the rest of the Leeds Bursary eligibility criteria. The University will use the household income assessment received from Simon's Award Body in 2022/23 to determine his 2023/24 entitlement. As Simon received a £1,000 Leeds Bursary in 2022/23 he would also qualify for a £1,000 Leeds Bursary in 2023/24. However, Simon believes that his household income has fallen which may mean that if he requests a 2023/24 household income assessment from his Award Body, it may be that his 2023/24 Leeds Bursary entitlement increases. In this case Simon should follow the procedure outlined below in order to request a 2023/24 household income assessment from his Award Body. It may take up to 6 weeks for his Award Body to make a new household income assessment. Once the assessment is finalised the Award Body should pass on the details of the new assessment to the University, and if this results in a change to Simon's Leeds Bursary entitlement the University would contact Simon to let him know.

Example 3:

Cynthia started studying at the University in 2019/20, entering year 1 of Medicine. The maximum possible Leeds Bursary award for 2019/20 starters is £2,000. Sue has just finished year 4 of Medicine in 2022/23, which was not an NHS-funded year, and is progressing into year 5 of Medicine in 2023/24, which is an NHS-funded year. In 2022/23 Cynthia's student finance application was not financially assessed by her Award Body, and as a consequence Cynthia did not receive a Leeds Bursary in 2022/23. Cynthia believes that her household income is below £36,000 which is the qualifying threshold to receive a Leeds Bursary award. In this case Cynthia should follow the procedure outlined below in order to request a 2023/24 household income assessment from her Award Body. It may take up to 6 weeks for his Award Body to make a new household income assessment. Once the assessment is finalised the Award Body should pass on the details of the new assessment to the University, and if this results in a change to Cynthia's Leeds Bursary entitlement the University would contact Cynthia to let her know.

How to request a financial assessment from your Award Body in an NHS-funded year.

Student Finance England

- Complete and return an “Applying for student finance based on household income form” to Student Finance England. You can download this form here (for 2023/24), or here (for 2024/25).

- Important: You should also include a covering letter (including your SFE Customer Reference Number) saying that you are requesting a household income assessment in order for your University to determine your eligibility for a Higher Education Bursary. You can find an example covering letter below.

- Unless you are an independent student, your parent(s) or partner should also return a completed PFF2 form to Student Finance England. You can download this form here (for 2023/24), or here (for 2024/25).

Student Finance Wales

- You should include a covering letter (including your SFW Customer Reference Number) saying that you are requesting a household income assessment in order for your University to determine your eligibility for a Higher Education Bursary. You can find an example covering letter below.

Student Awards Agency for Scotland

- Household income information can be supplied via your online Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) account. If you need any help you can find the contact details for SAAS at https://www.mygov.scot/organisations/student-awards-agency-scotland-saas

Student Finance Northern Ireland

- You should include a covering letter (including your SFNI Customer Reference Number) saying that you are requesting a household income assessment in order for your University to determine your eligibility for a Higher Education Bursary. You can find an example covering letter below.

Example Covering Letter for SFE/SFW/SFNI students

Dear Student Finance [England/Wales/Northern Ireland – delete as appropriate]

Re: [Your Name] 
Customer Reference Number: [Your 11-digit customer reference number]

I am writing to request a household income assessment in order that my host university may be able to determine my eligibility for a Higher Education bursary.  
I am enclosing the required form(s). 

Please contact me if you require any further information. 

Yours sincerely,